'Suddenly,' Chávez is on the radio (yet again)

Venezuelan
President Hugo Chávez Frías has used cadenas—nationwide
radio and television addresses that preempt programming on all stations—to
challenge the private media’s news coverage and amplify the government’s voice.
In his radio and TV call-in program, “Aló,Presidente” (Hello, President), Chávez often lambastes critics in the media and the political
opposition.

Over more than a
decade, Chávez has broadcast almost 2,000 cadenas.
According to data from AGB Nielsen Media Research, the president has
aired 1,995 cadenas from the time he took
office in 1999 until late January 2010. Chávez has spent more
than 1,300 broadcast hours on the air, the equivalent of 55 full days, AGB
Nielsen found.

The Venezuelan
president apparently does not fear over-exposure.

On Monday, he
launched a new radio program called “Suddenly, With Chávez.” The show, which
airs on state-owned Radio Nacional de Venezuela, does not have a regular
schedule and, instead, will be broadcast at any time (midnight or dawn, even,
says Chávez). The administration has “many things to report,” press reports
quoted the president as saying.

Broadcasters have
been penalized
recently for not airing the Chavez’s speeches. On orders from the National
Telecommunication Commission (CONATEL), cable and satellite providers stopped
transmitting RCTV International and five other stations shortly after midnight
on January
24. CONATEL alleged that the broadcasters violated a requirement to air Chávez’s
speeches.

Ritmo Son,
Momentum, America TV, American Network, and TV Chile have been allowed back on
to cable and satellite since then, but RCTV remains dark. The
station has sought an injunction lifting
the ban from the Supreme Tribunal of Justice, according to an RCTV lawyer.Known for its harsh
opposition views, RCTV is the country’s oldest private station, with 57 years
on the air and on cable and satellite.

According to the country’s Law of Social
Responsibility in Radio and Television,which has been widely criticized for its broad and
vaguely worded restrictions on free expression, broadcasters must carry
government programming when officials deem it necessary. That includes all live
broadcasts of Chávez’s cadenas.

Although “Suddenly”
will be aired on state radio only (at least for now), it reflects the president’s
longstanding strategy to be his country’s dominant source of information.

UPDATED: We corrected the spelling of "cadenas" after a reader pointed out the problem.

CPJ Senior Americas Program Coordinator Carlos Lauría, a native of Buenos Aires, is a widely published journalist who has written extensively for Noticias, the leading Spanish-language newsmagazine.
Follow him on Facebook @ CPJ en Español.